MobileIron's Content Security Service Opens Doors For Channel Opportunities

MobileIron on Wednesday unveiled Content Security Service (CSS), a data security solution for enterprise-focused business documents stored in the personal cloud.

CSS allows security to be managed at the document level across cloud storage services, unfolding ample opportunities for channel partners to build consulting services around the mobile security ecosystem.

"As resellers of MobileIron, we're excited about CSS because it gives us the opportunity to help companies buy and implement it," said Jay Gordon, vice president of sales at Plano, Texas-based MobileIron partner Enterprise Mobile. "This product will not only give us more revenue, but also another way to interact with our customers. We do a lot with help desk support and replacement of broken devices, so our customers turn to us for a lot of things ... this will be an extension of that."

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Many employees use their personal clouds to share data, so companies have increasingly difficult times managing the locations where valuable data is moving and the employees who are moving it.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company's product aims to disperse these fears by pulling security from the infrastructure level to the document level, so that data remains protected even when it moves to a consumer app or service.

"This product will help leverage third-party, cloud-based repositories and allow clients to manage the storage of documents and corporate content," Gordon said. "It's a really simple product to understand for IT and security directors, and I think the solution will be heavily adopted based on the need to control corporate documents."

According to MobileIron Vice President of Strategy Ojas Rege, the new tool ensures content security at the enterprise level, so that administrators can still maintain control of company content even as employees utilize their own devices and cloud systems.

"The personal cloud has always been a scary place for IT," said Rege. "One area in particular that has been a challenge is content storage. We wanted to address how clients can protect personal data by moving security to the level of the individual document. We want to make sure that this allows employees choice without compromising enterprise security."

The product reinforces security through encryption and key management of documents in the personal cloud, secure sharing features, and databases to trail document access and sharing paths. MobileIron's EMM platform also fully integrates with the CSS system, allowing administrators to make changes impacting the way documents are shared within their organization, and sets data loss prevention controls like document expiration policies.

"In terms of new opportunities for the channel, this product lets solution providers move higher in the stack and build a consulting service to promote strategies with clients who want to make sense of their mobile security," Rege said.

PUBLISHED FEB. 4, 2015